B2 



They are extravagant in their expenses, and passion- 

 ately addicted to gaming, in which they pass almost 

 all their leisure moments ; and instances are not un- 

 frequent of a miner losing one or two thousand 

 crowns of a night. Losses of this nature are consi* 

 dered by them as trifles, and on such occasions they 

 gayly console themselves with a professional pro- 

 verb, that " the mountains never keep accounts." 

 Nothing is more abhorrent to them than frugality, 

 and whenever they find one of their companions who 

 has amassed a sum of money by his economy, they 

 leave no means untried to strip him of it, observing, 

 that avarice is a vice peculiarly degrading to the 

 character of a miner ; and so addicted are they to 

 ebriety that those who on first joining them are re- 

 markable for their abstemiousness, are soon led, from 

 the influence of example, to participate in the general 

 intemperance. From these causes none of them ac- 

 quire property, and they generally die in the greatest 

 poverty and distress, while the profits of their labour 

 are wholly absorbed by those who supply them with 

 provisions and liquor. 



Sect. XIII. Concrétions» — The last class of the 

 mineral kingdom, the concretions, oflfers nothing 

 very remarkable in Chili. Pumice stone is so 

 common in the interior of the Andes that it forms 

 the substance of several mountains. A species of it 

 of a light grey is in much estimation with the inhabi- 

 tants who use it for filtering stones. Petrified wood 

 has been discovered in many places. I have seen 

 pieces of hewn timber completely petrified dug out 



